As a private club they have a legal right to decide not to have women members....however they should not be afforded the prestige and everything else that holding the open brings. I hope McElroy wins after his comments now.

Tbh I can't wait for it to be all over...I don't like golf and living less than 5 miles from muirfield I am fed up of road closures & not being able to get any where by my usual route :-( That and the fact that our council has resurfaced loads of roads that didn't need doing because some golfers might drive down them(!!!) and ignored loads that really need doing....

My PILs are members of a bowls club which has "members" and "lady members". Lady members pay a slightly smaller annual subscription although they seem to have much the same access to facilities and tournaments. The main difference appears to be that when they are hosting a competition with another team the lady members are expected to muck in and do the catering and provide supper while the men sit and enjoy and play host!

I asked MIL why on earth they put up with it but I get the impression that they all just shrug and accept it. I guess it is an age thing for them.

I dont get the problem personally, my dad used to be a member of a grumpy git club men only golf club, he went with his friends to play and have a beer. As my mum would meet her friends at the women only gym to wout and have a coffee and gossip. I assume people who want this equality would be happy to see the end of women only clubs/gyms/swimming?

Lessmiss I completely agree that this is wrong and that the law should be changed......in the meantime though perhaps the powers that be might remove the clubs that are stuck in the 19th century from the rota of clubs that hold the open....Sadly can't see it happening soon

Some men like to be in a men only environment sometimes. Some women like to be in a women only environment sometimes. A private members club sets the rules for it's members, they are explicit from the outset and no one has to join if they don't like it.

Private clubs are and should be allowed to set their own membership criteria. I wouldn't want to join a club full of misogynists, or of golfers, or runners or tennis players for that matter; but it's up to members who can join.

I work in a very male environment, I have lots of male friends and am a member of one of the London clubs which until very recently did not accept women members (where I have, incidently, been treated as an equal). I like all of that; but just sometimes I would really like the sort of all female company which I enjoyed at school and in my then all female college. I think an all female club could be very agreeable and that doesn't make me a man hater at all.

Freedom of association should be just that. I should be able to mix with the people I choose and so should everyone else. If some men don't want to mix with me, then that's fine.

but... I belong to a women's cycle club. there are people who argue against women-only sports clubs and I wasn't sure myself to begin with but I am now totally sold on our women-only club even though I often ride with men too.

So, despite being a feminist. I would not support any legislation that made single-sex sports clubs illegal. Sorry.

The name "Open" for such a championship being held in a premises that bans women is ridiculous. It should be banned to hold internationally or nationally sanctioned competitions at such venues.

I dont really want to be segregated from men either, like some powdered Elizabethan, retiring after dinner. I do triathlon and train with the men, I've never felt the need to be a member if a womens only club or to need special measures to help me train. If others do, thats fine, but I dont think on the whole that segregation of the sexes is the way forwards and not holding large competitions at venues that bar membership to.half the population will do far more for equal participation than any number of patronising special measures.